Terence Davies, Here and Now

It would be a major cinematic event whenever it’s released; Rachel Weisz would have deserved a nomination last year for it, as she doubtless will this year, too; so would its adapted screenplay, its cinematography, and, of course, its direction. The film in question is Terence Davies’s “The Deep Blue Sea,” which could have opened here last year but is in fact coming out next Friday, March 23. Last night, it was shown in première at MOMA, and Davies was there, hale and vigorous, charming and expansive, to introduce the movie with a few evocative anecdotes and pointed enthusiasms.

Davies said that the producer Sean O’Connor suggested that he adapt one of Terence Rattigan’s plays. The two that Davies didn’t want to take on were “The Browning Version” and “Separate Tables,” because of his affection for the classic movie versions. He chose “The Deep Blue Sea” because, he said, “I know what that’s about,” and he credited Alan Brodie, of the Terence Rattigan Trust, for advising him to “be radical.”

He offered thanks to those who are helping to bring the film out here, including the distributor, Music Box Films, and the United States itself, for “your country, for the American musical. That’s what I was brought up on.” He said that “Singin’ in the Rain” was the first film he ever saw (he was born in 1945) and joked, “That’s how I think your country is, I still think you all spontaneously dance and sing.” He emphasized the unique and worldwide influence of the American musical, saying that, crossing the George Washington Bridge earlier in the day, he had been reminded of “On the Town.” He added that his “greatest love of all is Doris Day,” and explained that the first and last shots of “The Deep Blue Sea” are references to “Young at Heart.”

The references are astonishing, but they’re no surprise, given the prominence of music and of musical performance in Davies’s films—including this new one. Meanwhile, it bears exultant repeating that there will be a retrospective of Davies’s films at BAM. It starts tonight, with another advance screening of “The Deep Blue Sea,” followed by a Q. & A. with Davies and Weisz, and continues next Wednesday, when it will cross the river to Film Forum, for a weeklong run of “The Long Day Closes.” And, for the benefit of those who don’t have the good fortune to be within an easy jaunt of the city’s revival houses: why no DVD releases of most of his exquisite and furious modern classics?

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